1 Corinthians 16:13-14 "Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. Let all that you do be done with love."

What is the Gospel Message?

The Gospel Message is the Good News of Jesus Christ. When God created man, He had perfect fellowship with them. God would walk with man in the garden communing with him.

God only asked one thing of man, not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. There were many other trees for fruit in the garden, but this one God said was off limits.

Then, man broke the only commandment that God gave him, eating the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This caused man to see that he was naked and to look for a covering. God knew that they had taken and eaten of the fruit but He offered them a chance to come clean before Him. He asked what was going on and where they were. Thus ending the perfect fellowship between man and God.

Since then, God has been trying to establish that perfect fellowship between Him and man. He has tried many ways, laws, prophets, letting us do what we want and then He was silent for a while. Then, about 2000 years ago He sent His Son to come down from Heaven, being made a little lower than the angels, to be a representative from God.

Jesus came with the full authority of God, yet in complete submission to the will of God. By being His Son, he was born of a woman on earth but not having an earthly father. He is God's Son because He is the exact representation of God in Heaven.

Jesus was on the earth for about 33 years. The final 3 years he was actively in ministry traveling mostly around the Sea of Galilee. He performed many, many miracles, healed the lame, cured the sick, made the blind to see and even brought back people from the dead. He did all of this to simply display that He was sent by God to be on Earth for us.

The final year of Jesus' ministry, many of His own people turned against Him. They saw that He was trying to change the inside of a person, what they thought towards others and how whey reacted when they were wronged. The religious leaders of the day didn't like that. They were perfect on the outside, keeping the law without one spot or blemish to them. But, Jesus was telling them that they were not yet righteousness because they were horrible on the inside, their motives for doing things were completely wrong.

After taking this for about 3 years, the religious leaders decided to plot against Jesus and have Him killed, by hanging on a tree that He had been nailed to. They came in the night and found Him and took Him before the judge. Though the judge found nothing wrong, the religious leaders continued until they agreed to crucify Him.

They crucified Jesus and He hung on the tree, nails through His hands and feet. He hung there until He gave up His last breath and died. They took His body down and put it into a tomb to be buried. Many mourned the death of Jesus as he was the greatest prophet any of them had ever seen.

Three days later, they went to the tomb only to find that Jesus was not there, He had risen!! Jesus rising from the dead is the most important part of the story. This means that God accepted the perfect sacrifice of Himself and He is now in Heaven seated at the right hand of God. This means that we now have access to Heaven through that sacrifice of Jesus. All you have to do is accept what He did for you on that cross. Admit that you are a sinner and that there is nothing that you can do to gain access to God. Give your life completely over to Jesus and rely only on Him for salvation.

There is a real Heaven and a real Hell. You only get one chance to get it right...